VISUALIZATION
FRIDAY FORUM2002-3

Fridays, 12pm, LSRC D106

Pizza and refreshments served

The Forum aspires to build an interdisciplinary
community of visualization experts whose combined knowledge
can facilitate research and promote innovation. Faculty, staff,
and students from across the university meet weekly to share
their research involving the development and/or application
of visualization methodologies.

Sept
6Rachael
Brady,Visualization
Technology Group

Visualization: Tools and Uses

Visualization
applies the algorithms of computer graphics with the fields
of perception and representation to communicate digital information
visually.Visualization
is used for presentations, art creation, data analysis, model
validation, illustration, data exploration, entertainment, and
cognitive studies. This talk will introduce the fall semester
series of lectures and discuss resources for doing visualization
at Duke.

Visualization and Quantification of 3D Trabecular Bone
StructureTrabecular
or cancellous bone consists of an interconnected network of
bony rods and plates and plays a critical structural role in
the vertebrate skeleton. Using microCT scan data together
with volume-based quantification and 3D visualization techniques,
the structure and mechanical significance of trabecular bone
can be assessed. The various techniques and approaches
available will be discussed in the context of analyzing trabecular
bone structure in the hip joint of primates and its relationship
to external mechanical loading during various behaviors.

Sept
20TGS Systems,Amira Software
Vendor

Introduction to the Amira 3D
Visualization System

A brief introduction about Amira and
the Amira Modules for Molecular Visualization, Deconvolution
for confocal microscopy and the amiraVR module for immersive
visualization will be presented. Datasets from different research
disciplines; medicine, geophysics, Finite Element Analysis,
Fluid Dynamics, and others will be demonstrated.

Sept
27Evan Cull, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Three Dimensional Imaging and
Compression with the Argus Sensor Array

The Argus project uses
an array of computers and ring of cameras as a means of investigating
telepresence and real-time three-dimensional imaging.Imaging applications developed for Argus involve the
creation and transmission of stereo pair as well as volumetric
images.A compression for Argus applies the MPEG2
video coding standard to the images taken from the camera
ring.

Oct
4Rhazes
Spell, Biomedical Engineering

Advances
in biotechnology have resulted in the creation of vast amounts
of genetic data.Bioinformatics visualization applications
are software tools that aid in the presentation of genetic data
and analysis.This
talk will provide a review of current bioinformatic visualization
research and discuss current efforts in extending bioinformatic
visualization techniques in the area of comparative genomics.

Oct
18Fred Nijhout, Biology

Control of Growth and Body Size
in Insects

We
are studying the control of body size and the evolution of body
size in insects. The cellular and physiological processes that
control growth rate are independent of those that control when
growth will stop. Many of these processes change during the
evolution of body size, and tracking the trajectory of these
changes presents an interesting problem in mutidimensional visualization.

Oct
25Shih-Chieh Lin, Neurobiology

Isolation
of Modulated 30-Hz Activity in sEMG Recordings During a Reaching
Task

Motor
control is a highly integrated process that requires precise
co-activation of groups of muscles. We investigated the spatial
distribution and temporal dynamics of simultaneously-recorded
16-channel surface electromyography (sEMG) recordings during
a reaching task. Particular linear combinations of recordings
(the Independent Components) demonstrated intermittent bursts
of sEMG activity at around 30Hz, compatible with previously-recorded
brain signals at this frequency. The audience will be encouraged
to suggest ways to visualize these high-dimensional data in
a meaningful way.

"It's
no longer blood and guts...its bits and bytes": Visualizing
the Future of Medicine

What might the humanities
bring to scientific/medical visualization practices?Using new medical visualization technologies
as a jumping off point, this presentation will open for discussion
what a critically-informed humanities perspective might bring
to understanding the social, historical and political implications
of doing visualization work.

Nov 8Mary Reedy, Cell
Biology

The 3D Structure of Motor Proteins
Delivering a Power Stroke in Muscle Contraction

How
do motor proteins in living cells produce force and movement?
The crystalline arrangement of myosin and actin in insect
flight muscle allows us to visualize electron-microscopic
(EM) freeze-frames of these proteins during an active muscle
contraction. Viewing these EM snapshots in 3D provides unique
information about the structural changes in the myosin motor
as it hydrolyzes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and produces
force and movement.

Nov 15Sathish Govindarjan, Computer
Science

Visualizing a Forest Growth Model

Ecologists use forest growth models to understand and predict
the evolution of a forest ecosystem.Typically the model is tested and verified by computer simulations.Data visualization can be used as a tool to analyze the
data obtained from the simulation.This talk focuses on our work on visualizing
a simulated forest ecosystem.

Nov
22Rachael Brady, Visualization Technologies Group

Colormaps 101

Psychologists
have been doing research on the physchophysical properties of
color and perception for 40 years.Unfortunately, the default colormap in many visualization
packages is the rainbow-hue colormap. This color map creates
perceived contours that do not reflect discrete transitions
in the data.Additionally,
attention is drawn to areas colored in yellow because they are
the brightest, not because they are the most important.In this Friday Forum, I will give general
guidelines in choosing a colormap, citing which colormaps are
most appropriate for which types of data.